Most television viewers receive their television programming through a cable, direct broadcast satellite (DBS), IPTV or similar subscription-based service. To that end, television service is usually broadcast from a cable, DBS or other content aggregator to multiple subscribers. The subscribers may then view received content as live broadcasts, and/or may store the content on digital video recorders (DVRs) or the like for later viewing. Some viewers may also placeshift received content from their homes or other access points to mobile phones, tablets or other devices for remote viewing.
Recently, some television distributors have developed “whole home” television systems in which a central device with one or more television tuners, a digital video recorder (DVR) and/or other functions provides video streams to other secondary devices that are associated with particular televisions in the household or other premises. The HOPPER system available from Dish Network of Englewood, Colo., for example, uses a central device (the HOPPER device) as a television receiver that supplies video streams to secondary JOEY devices that are associated with particular televisions; other suppliers may provide similar systems, devices and features. Although such systems have been met with widespread customer approval, it is always beneficial to continually enhance the user experience and to provide additional new features for the users.
It is therefore desirable to increase the number of tuners available within a television receiving system, and to provide other enhancements to the viewer experience. Various desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.